Reporters oppose Pentagon monitoring

Defense reporters want the Pentagon’s assurance it’s not listening to their phone calls. The request is in response to the Defense Department’s new policy of monitoring national media reports for unauthorized disclosures of classified information. It’s the word “monitor” that set off alarm bells among journalists. The word “could be interpreted by some as authorizing intrusive actions aimed at members of the news media who report on defense issues,” the Pentagon Press Association said in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.